Berleyguts

On second thoughts, the fish I saw below the Newport Arms on Frioday may have been kings, with the solid yellow tail appearing dark from so far up. It's possible the Lavendar Bay fish was a cobia. I remember a club member catching one in Swansea Channel on 2kg while spinning for flathead - he had quite a time chasing that fish under the bridge! Baz

I dropped in at Wisemans Ferry on Saturday to do some work on our van and the river looked a little murky but not much worse than normal after a fair bit of rain. I didn't get out in the boat. Cheers, Baz

On Friday, I was having lunch (work paid ) at the Newport Arms Hotel and looking down into Pittwater, I saw fish similar to your description ripping through schools of bait close to shore. I called them for big tailor. They had me fascinated. There was a clear delineation of a black tail and the top of the fish was bluey-green. Tailor are called bluefish in the USA.... Baz

Air conditioning? What's that? There were definitely fin in the SW Arm about 15 years ago. I could almost touch the one that was around my 10ft punt that time - it kept showering me with water as it devoured the pillies and yakkas I was dropping over the side. John Ashley reported getting a few back then. I'm still only hearing 2nd-hand reports this time round though, so would like to hear from someone who's seen them recently... since I couldn't get down there on the weekend myself.... Baz

Offshore: The Banks would probably be the number one most consistent spot. I've fished there plenty of times but not in my own boat. Baz

A work colleague lives on the Port and says there are a lot of slimies about (not necessarily in SW Arm) but he has a friend who owns a dive and tackle shop and customers have reported getting fin in the Arm. I'd still like to hear a first hand report (can't get out there myself at the moment). No doubt, someone will read the Tele and this forum and get out there - so I imagine they won't be there for long! Baz

Awesome hoodlum! Well done. If I had fishing like that before I went to work, I wouldn't go in that day. I might ring in and gloat though! Baz PS. I'd probably have to take sick leave due to a sore back!

In the fishing column of today's Daily Telegraph, it is reported that yellowfin tuna to 23kg are being caught in the South West Arm of Port Hacking on live baits. Have any Raiders caught any of these? About 15 years ago, there were some yellowfin in the SW Arm and I had one around my 10ft punt, taking pillies and live yakkas/slimies practically out of my hand - but not once I put a hook in. (I don't know what I was going to do if I hooked up on 4kg having rowed the punt over - cut the anchor rope and hang on I guess! ). No-one at the Club believed me until a noted game fisho and writer (member) said they'd been getting them on 24kg game gear!) That season, there were some unusual catches in the Port I recall, including a spangled emporer I caught. I think there were some particularly warm currents and I wonder if this is a cyclic thing(???). Baz

Yep. I let out a "Woo hoo!" and they gave me the thumbs up, before I had to fire up the Yammy and motor away from the wall. I was thinking it would have been easier if I wasn't fishing on my own. My said she should have come... and I'd be glad to have her along... but she'd probably have grabbed the rod! Baz

I'm having trouble locating tackle stores that stock pre-test line (e.g. Platypus Pre-Test), particularly in the lighter ANSA/IGFA line clases, eg. 1kg, 2kg, 3kg. If you know of a reliable supplier, can you please PM me the details? I live at Quakers Hill and travel to work in the city by train, so need a store near home or work. Thanks, Baz

I didn't know anything about a local comp at Lake Macquarie! Baz

Great fish! Well done! Baz

Do both. I lived for about a year in Banff, Alberta in 86/87 and managed a few trout on spin gear in the river and in the surrounding lakes. Wish I'd learnt to fly fish then, though. Baz

Yeah, a friend was up there a couple of weeks ago and brained them. My club mates got a few each for the table yesterday and some kids brought in a decent fish (maybe 3kg) but they'd been snorkeling and poked it with one of those sharp pointy stick things... Baz

This was a social outing, with no comp, apart from the annual ANSA comp. She is trophy length though, so will be a length only Masters fish, as I was using 6kg line on that outfit (if only she took the 2kg outfit!). It's been many years since I caught a Masters fish, having been out of the game for a while, so I'm stoked! Baz

I left home at 4:00am (slept in) yesterday for the annual St George sportfishing Club flathead/day weekend at Swansea. I drive in Kombi time so it is a slower trip than most others do it in and, with a coffee stop along the way, I had the boat in the water at 6:00am. First, I ducked up a creek to catch some poddies and in 15 minutes I had about 20 in the old juice bottle. I fished the channel east of the bridge, west of the bridge and up in the lake and could barely turn a scale. The soft plastics only resulted in a few bitten off tails, possibly from toadfish. The poddies were not getting results and the only fish I was getting were tiny bream or flathead on some inferior frozen prawns. I found a quiet spot up in the lake and anchored up while I had a drink and a rest. I berleyed with bread and had a heap of garfish at the back of the boat - a least I'll take home a nice feed of gar, I thought but, no, couldn't boat a lousy gar! So back to the channel for a few more drifts on the runout before joining the other club members for lunch back at the ramp.... I was on my own, fishing three rods... a live poddy out the back on one line, a prawn (dubious quality) on another, while I flicked SPs around the boat on the third. I caught a tiny flathead on a prawn and was busy removing him from the hook, with the other two lines (poddy and SP) still in the water, when I drifted very close to an anchored boat on the edge of the main channel, so close that I lost both the SP and the poddy terminal rig on his anchor rope. Oh well, I just re-rigged and headed back upstream for another couple of drifts, this time with a better angle. I was nearing the end of my last drift and started pulling in my lines, first the SP line, then the prawn bait line…as I was pulling in the 2nd line, the Baitrunner screamed as something took off with the poddy. I quickly put the 2nd rod in the holder and grabbed the poddy outfit. Some serious weight, I thought, maybe some weed around the fish, too. I got the fish closer and then it took off upstream… got it closer again then it went under the boat and downstream, taking all my effort to get it back to the boat. About 1 metre down I could see that this was a good flathead and she let me have a few glimpses before kicking away again with her solid tail. I was getting close to the rocks and thought I was going to have to throw the anchor overboard and quickly tie off on a cleat to finish this fight but just then, she came close enough for me to slip the net under her. I lifted her into the boat, let out a"Woo-hoo!" and quickly fired up the Yammy about 4 metres off the rockwall. I motored back to the ramp with a grin from ear to ear! Anyway, the old girl weighed in at 4.2kg and 87cm long, a PB for me and almost double the weight of my previous PB. After lunch, I tried a few more drifts but couldn't boat another fish. Still, I was happy with the one I did get! Cheers, Baz

I'm leaving for Swansea at about 3:30am tomorrow and will be fishing the channel and Lake Macquarie targeting flathead on lures and live poddies. This is a St George sportfishing Club outing and we always have a good time and get a few fish at Swansea, so hopefully history will repeat. Baz

Live poddies. I'm fishing Swansea channel and the lake this Saturday - my club (St George sportfishing Club) has an outing there. Might stay overnight but not sure. I'll be on 27mhz, call sign "Berleyguts". Baz

"Frank" the flathead sounds about right. I am fishing Swansea with my club on Saturday. Fingers crossed... Baz

Lol! I remember fishing a beach up near Port Stephens once. Samurai Beach, I think it was. I'd been fishing for an hour or so and squatted down to get some gear out of my big. "Catching anything, mate?", I hear. I looked up and copped an eyeful of something I did not want to see at 8.00 in the morning! Baz

On Wednesday, at the drums, I was flicking 5 inch Jerk Shads and had 3 absolutely screaming runs but the hooks pulled. I had a couple of hits at the hot water outlet and one similar run, again the hook pulled. Close but no cigar. Baz

I was told "Yes" by the Yamaha dealer when I bought my boat (1991 Yamaha 25hp 2-stroke) and again when servied by another Yamaha dealer. Also, I have to run 95 RON or higher in my Kombi (I usually run 98 as the local Shell doesn't have 95) and prefer to fuill up at the same time with the same juice. the Kombi definitely runs better and more economically on preimum and I guess the same would apply to the outboard. Cheers, Baz

That sounds like the Double Uni knot and instructions should be in the "Knots" kink at the top of the page. I find with braid that I need to double the number of turns to avoid slippage, ie. if the knot calls for 5 turns with mono, use 10 for braid. I haven't had a knot slip, or cut through mono since. However, I was having a bit of trouble with the Double Uni knot catching in the guides. I recently switched to the Albright knot and find it runs through the guides better and I also find it easier to tie.. from a loop liek the start of a Sheetbend (I'm an old boy scout) run down 10 times (5 if only mono) than back 10 times, back tough the loop. As for stated breaking strains of braid, I would like to see a Pre-test option to ANSA/IGFA line classes! Cheers, Baz

2 or 3 years ago now, I had laser eye surgery. Fortunately, I had a friend at the clinic and managed to get it for price, so it only cost me $2700. Best thing I ever did. Even at full price, I have already made my money back by not having to by contacts, specs, prescription sunnies etc. Prices are coming down, too. A little while back, age caught up with me and now I need reading glasses - but I can manage with a $15 pair of magnifiers from a servo! And for sunnies, the BarzOptics (and other brands) with the built in magnifiers do the job well. Worth considering laser eye surgery if you're suited and you can manage the $$$. You can even get one eye set for reading and the other for distance. I may consider that down track but I reckon I'd be caught winking at everyone! Baz

I used to visit Gerroa a lot when I was a kid and did a lot of fishing there. From Gerroa south, there are several miles of beach all the way to Shoalhaven Heads, with all the usual beach species. Just look for the gutters. There's a fairly large rock platform at Black Head (I think that's what it's called), below the Gerroa Boat Fishermans Club (assuming that's still there) - bream, pigs, luderick, tailor,salmon etc. The Crooked River comes out near the headland. If it is open to the sea, beach fishing near the mouth could give you a chance at jew. In the river itself - bream, flathead, whiting etc. (It's only a little river). I remember one season as a kid when the seas blew up outside, we caught a stack of big luderick from a little sand bank near the bridge. I remember pumping green nippers there, too. We used to fish offshore in 14ft tinnies, launched off the beach and used to catch heaps of flathead, morwong, snapper, nannygai etc. I don't know how much it has changed since the 70's but I guess that gives you some ideas. Good luck. Baz